Court hears details of ‘depraved’ offending of prolific catfish abuser

Alexander McCartney, 26, has admitted 185 charges involving 70 child victims.

The sentencing hearing took place at Belfast Crown Court (Liam McBurney/PA) (PA Archive)

A court has heard details of the “depraved” offending of a Northern Ireland man at the centre of one of the world’s largest catfishing investigations.

Belfast Crown Court was told that one of Alexander McCartney’s victims, from outside the UK, killed herself while being blackmailed by him.

As the scale of his crimes were laid out, a barrister described the case as “quite horrific”.

McCartney, 26, has admitted 185 charges involving 70 child victims, but a sentencing hearing in Belfast was told there are “many, many more victims” who have not been identified.

There are many, many more victims, in all likelihood. The sentencing exercise is confined to those (70) victims but the suspected number is much, much higher that that

David McDowell KC

He posed on the Snapchat social media platform as a teenage girl and befriended vulnerable girls. He persuaded them to send sexual pictures before revealing the “catfish” and then blackmailed them into taking part in sex acts.

The offences covered a period from 2014 to 2019 with victims being identified all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand and the US.

McCartney, originally from Lissummon Road outside Newry, has been on remand in Maghaberry Prison since 2019.

He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, 59 counts of blackmail, dozens of charges related to making and distributing indecent photographs and scores of charges of inciting children to engage in sexual activity.

Prosecuting barrister David McDowell KC told the court that the offending McCartney had admitted to related to 70 victims.

Judge Mr Justice O’Hara asked if 70 was a minimum number.

Mr McDowell said: “There are many, many more victims, in all likelihood. The sentencing exercise is confined to those (70) victims but the suspected number is much, much higher that that.

“The offending concerns the defendant’s online exploitation of young girls aged between 10 and 16 on social media, primarily using the application Snapchat, but also Instagram and messenger sites.

Chat conversations recovered from his devices make for the most disturbing reading for any right-minded person and more so for any parent

David McDowell KC

“He engaged in what is known as catfishing, that is pretending to be someone else – in his case, a young teenage girl – in order to deceive his victims into sending sexual images of themselves, before revealing his true intent and threatening them with exposure in order to force them to perform sexual acts on themselves and their very young siblings, or even on occasion a dog, before sending moving or still images to the defendant.

“His victims were located all over the world, in Northern Ireland and elsewhere in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, in continental Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the United States.

“The investigation has thus been international with co-operation from a number of other police forces and law enforcement agencies.”

Mr McDowell said the harm caused to victims was “unquantifiable”.

He added: “He targeted young girls who were either gay or exploring their sexuality with other girls by posing as a young teenage girl who was struggling with body image and her sexuality and reaching out to others with similar issues, preying on their insecurity.”

The barrister said McCartney used his technical knowledge as a computer science student to carry out his crimes.

Describing the sexual acts McCartney forced his victims to undertake, Mr McDowell said “he degraded and humiliated them”.

Some of the victims told him they would kill themselves as they pleaded with him to leave them alone. Others, in desperation, threatened to harm themselves, some doing so on camera

David McDowell KC

He said: “Chat conversations recovered from his devices make for the most disturbing reading for any right-minded person and more so for any parent.

“They beg him to stop and plead for assurances their images will not be put on the internet or sent to friends and family members.

“Many are crying and tell him they are shaking.

“Some of the victims told him they would kill themselves as they pleaded with him to leave them alone.

“Others, in desperation, threatened to harm themselves, some doing so on camera.”

The court heard that McCartney told one girl he would get people to go to her house to rape her if she did not comply with his demands.

The barrister said McCartney had been arrested several times between 2016 and 2019 but continued to offend despite bail conditions.

He said: “Indeed, as time went on there was an escalation in the seriousness of his conduct in the form of the depravity of the demands he made of the subject children.”

It is not hyperbole to describe this case as quite horrific

Greg Berry KC

Mr McDowell said a 12-year-old killed herself in May 2018 after he blackmailed her and tried to get her to involve her younger sister in sex acts.

When the girl pleaded with him to stop, the court was told that he threatened to send sexual images of her to her father.

The barrister said that after the girl’s death, her father “lost interest in life” and killed himself 18 months later.

Mr McDowell said the prosecution did not accept McCartney’s claim that he had started offending after becoming a victim of catfishing himself.

Defence barrister Greg Berry KC told the court: “It is not hyperbole to describe this case as quite horrific, but even in the most horrific cases the court is bound to look and see if there is mitigating features on behalf of a defendant.”

He pointed out that his client had pleaded guilty, had shown remorse and had no previous criminal record.

Mr Justice O’Hara said he would deliver sentence next week.